It Was Pure

Q: Okay so I’m a mom - a couple of my kids identify as queer, I always appreciated how like, organically you introduced gay characters into things - sorry I’m shaking, I’m so nervous. And so my question is - with Castiel, when did you know that the way he loved Dean was a romantic, deep love? Like when in the series did you know - because we always kinda debate over - see this is when they’re, you know, kinda dropping hints -

Jared: Yeah yeah yeah. (to Jensen) Do you want to take this do you want me to take this?

Jensen: Um. I don’t - I don’t think Dean ever really knew until the very end there. Um. In fact I know he didn’t because I never played that. I would say - when Jensen found out, or when it was kinda discussed internally that it - it’d - it’s interesting the - the - I think - the term “romantic” is being used, because there isn’t a term that necessarily -

Jared (using air quotes to indicate that he’s quoting the show): He’s “junkless,” you know?

Jensen: (in agreement with Jared) Yeah. I don’t think lust is involved with romanticism.

Jared: I don’t think it’s the point that they both have human male bodies, seemingly, and want to sleep with each other, I think the point is that you can love anything, it’s a superpower. Someone can punch you in the face and you can say, “I love you, I forgive you.” Someone can give you a million bucks, and you can go, “I love you.” It doesn’t mean, like - I say that with my friends, I say it with Ackles, like, “Hey, I love you, man.” It doesn’t mean like, “I wanna take you to a hotel room,” it just means that I love you. And so that was, the - the - the point of the relationship, story-wise, is that they could love each other, you know - Sam and Dean loved each other, it wasn’t a show about incest. Cas and Dean can love each other, it’s not a show about - it’s not a show about heterosexuality or non-binary - it’s a show about, hey, you can choose to live your life with love, not, hey, this means they wanna make out. It’s not about that. It’s about - I can tell my son, “I love you,” and it’s not that I want to do something to or with my son, I just love my son. My daughter can say the same thing. So that wasn’t, I’m sorry, that wasn’t the point of that scene. The point was, you are free to love whoever you want, you can be heterosexual and love whoever you want, you can be queer and love whoever you want, you can be any part of the LGBTQIA and love whoever the fuck you want - sorry for my cursing - it doesn’t mean you want to do something with them or to them. So hopefully Supernatural in its 327 episodes helped to have people love those around them

Jensen: I think that’s really what was - and I’m just piggybacking off of what [Jared] said - that the love that Cas had is heavenly - it was, you know, he’s an angel, so he’s able to, I think, love on a level and on a plane that human emotion doesn’t necessarily comprehend. And I think we might default to making it a romantic or a sexual love, when - and the way that I kind of interpreted it - and this is the great thing about the show and the relationships and some of these characters is that they’re open for interpretation (Jared nods in agreement). If you find identity in a character because of whatever reason, fantastic, great. If that encourages you to be a better person or to love someone a little harder or to forgive someone for something, then fantastic. That’s - I think that’s one of the beautiful things about doing what we do is we get to encourage people on a variety of levels.

Jared: To think.

Jensen: And I think Cas’s love was a love that isn’t identified by humans, necessarily. It was a love that superseded that. We try to find words to describe that, and I just don’t think there are words.